I came across this little pot of pinkness on beauty bay and I just love it! Firstly, someone really needs to invent smell-a-gram, because seriously this stuff smells AMAZING! A sweet fruity raspberry. So apparently it’s trending on tik tok, i’ve not seen it, but i was doing my usual and scrolling through beauty sites screen shopping as i call it, (window shopping at home lol) and came across it.
Those of you that know me, know I’m a magpie when it comes to anything pink! So instantly I was drawn to it.
It comes in 2 different sizes, 28ml which is the one I ordered for £8.95 or 55ml for £14.95. Now if i’m honest the 28ml i reckon will last you nearly a year if you use it daily, and even longer if it’s just an occasional product.
So what does it do? Well i wanted to try it out mainly for my brow lami babes. If you have this treatment, you know that it lasts the life cycle of your brows, so when you’re approaching your next appt, your brows start to drop and the newbie hairs don’t follow in the lift. There are brow glues out there but I find they leave a residue and can be a bit tricky to master. Also it’s great if you’re thinking of lamination but unsure, you can try before you bye with this stuff first!
This is activated with water, so just damp a spoolie and swish it round in the ready made hole in the product, and simply brush your brows into place. It actually lifts brow hairs really well, even the little ones and doesn’t leave a tacky residue.
It states it lasts up to 9 hours, I’ve had it on from school run to bed and it certainly did it for me… I was so impressed that I then brought the cola cube flavour, which is also tinted! Blinking genius for when your brow tint is fading!
My brows are the bane of my life! To a point that they controlled my life at one stage! I’m a 90’s child so the thin line brows were all the rage. Unfortunately my brows did not survive the era and remained over plucked and badly shaped. My natural brows start virtually over my pupil, I’m not joking! And are just an arched line. Think about the pami barbed wire porn star look and you’re somewhere close.
So with constant shift in trends, when it came to the bushier more natural brow, i was fucked! So before microblading and lamination we had the ombre/block brow, which is still very much alive today and I still love the look.But I had to draw these on daily and would take me forever, making sure they were straight and matching, not oversized ect. But of course, throughout the course of the day they would melt away and smudge. I have a very greasy t zone so they would literally end up on my cheekbones.
I would wake up at like 4 in the morning to touch them up and get back into bed, lie flat on my back until it was time to get up, all because I didn’t want my partner to see my natural brows.. And as for getting down and dirty well, the light was NEVER on and I’d leg it into the bathroom where I had a separate stash of brow pencils. How sad? It gets sadder ..
But of course it wasn’t vanity, it was my friend ANNIE in action. ‘They don’t like you,’ ‘they will think you’re ugly’ ‘they will criticise you’ ‘they will leave’ to name a few of her phases. All stemming from my deep rooted issue of never being enough.
I would shy away, no scrap that, run away from any water activity with the kids for the fear of my brows being washed off. You would physically see me hold my children away from my face to stop them from accidentally smudging my brows. God help if i noticed even just the slight imperfection in them… I would boil over with the fear someone saw them out of place and what they must think. But with this, people who had no idea that ‘ANNIE’ had kindly taken up residence in my head, thought I was a stuck up miserable cow, who pushed away her children and wouldn’t engage in play. It was so far from the truth, all I wanted to do was unleash the 5 year old me, I missed water balloons and gambols. I wasn’t joking when I said it controlled my life … for almost 9 years.
Remember when I said I had learnt both the positive and the negative links between beauty. My brow game covers both, the negative being the above and that I allowed other people’s opinions to control me, caring too much about not being good enough. Thinking that I had to conform to what society deemed acceptable and never should I let slip. I had no idea how to love myself and certainly felt a million miles away from comfortable in my own skin. (still don’t its a work in progress kinda situ)
Yeah sure I grew to dislike my brows and definitely a personal choice to want to change them, but it was my mental health that twisted and warped it. When ANNIE got hold of it like always, over exaggerated it, she is such a bloody drama queen! Thin brows are ok, big bushy brows are ok, ombre brows are ok, any brow type is OK, if that’s what you like, it doesn’t matter the opinion of sheep … we are wolves remember. But if you don’t like them, like anything… that’s ok too because it’s your choice, but never should it diminish your mental health or affect your life…. We need to learn to love ourselves more!
But the positive from this little story is 4 years ago i had my brows micro bladed, and over night just like that, i shut the bitch up! ( on that topic any way)
It was like a new lease of life, it took me less time to get ready in the morning, i didn’t worry about water, the kids could touch my face, no more getting up at 4am, i became happier, more confident, a complete shift! All because it appeared I had hair in what I deemed the right places.
I hear you…. I’m contradicting myself. I’ve just preached We need to learn to love ourselves the way we are and shouldn’t need to change to feel confident ect. By going and getting my brows microbladed I was conforming to society by following the trends. and you are so right but this is where the lines blur slightly and the links appear, be it on a double edge sword.
You see we are all unique, that uniqueness is what makes us beautiful, it should be celebrated and loved. We have to own our flaws and love them just as much as the good bits because that’s what makes us, us! Stay true to us and confident. We don’t need beauty treatments and cosmetic changes, nor should it be an expectation of society. It’s society’s beauty image, expectations and pressure that triggers the negative mental health issues that young women especially face.
However , sometimes beauty is a mental health game changer, just like that of my battered brows. It can improve mental health, aid trauma healing and give someone the strength they need to face the day. Not just by the physical effects of the treatments but also the effects that go under the radar. The positive changes in hormones released during and after the treatment. (we’ll revisit hormones another time) the instant surge in confidence. Known for years as the feel good factor, it’s now necessary self care/love. We all lose our way sometimes, routines slip and we go through tough times. You all know I’ve had my fair share, and each time beauty has played a major part in getting me through, investing in myself, taking time for me to feel me again.
So you see beauty can diminish or elevate mental health, it’s us learning to have a healthy relationship with it is what is crucial to our stability.
So I said I have a greasy t zone and my brows melt?. After a few years my microbladed hair strokes started to bleed, because of the grease in my skin! it’s not recommended for skin like mine. So if you’re thinking of this treatment, really research it and your skin first. I know this now but was never made aware at the time. So I’m back to a permanent block brow, but it’s now faded. So im back to daily brow make up, i couple it with lamination and they do look pretty good to be fair. I’m disappointed, but I’m ok with it. It is what it is. So while I’ve taken a step back in a way, it no longer controls me, because I’ve learnt to have a healthy relationship with my brows. I leave the house as is sometimes, I haven’t gone back to getting up at 4am. Water still isn’t an issue because I’ve learnt that this is me! And that I can rock it whatever.
Next time ill be looking at how to gain that healthy relationship with your idea of beauty. If you have a similar story like that of my battered brows id love to hear them. Send them in too abi@shepackbeauty.com
Until then be unapologetically YOU, no matter what that looks like.
Remember Wolves not sheep.
Love A
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